Hive-Mind
by N0bodE
Summary: Mercer, once a terrorist that brought the world to the brink, contents himself with pretending to be a hero. Not on the world he nearly destroyed but rather another that seems worse off. He is one of a kind, less than human but more at the same time, yet when he does a sweep of the city with his bugs he finds somebody able to hijack control. An interesting development for sure.
1. Interesting Developments

AN: Lil' disclaimer for anybody not familiar with Prototype. Basically think Niblog on steroids, with a hint of Panacea. Easiest way to put it without going in-depth.

He watched the crowds walk by, as he stood on the roof of the mall roughly above the food court, heard their idle conversations between one another. Talking of what they would do later as a family, eating out or bowling. Complaining about not having the latest iteration of a smart-phone, or not having enough money to pay the bills. Lovers walking together hands clasped together, a son riding atop his father's shoulder with glee, a depressed brother being comforted by his sister, a gaggle of teens going to the newest movie. It was almost like home, minus a few conversations.

Whispers about Niblog, the madman that killed an entire town with his creations, between two grown men. An argument between two kids about who was stronger, Legend the flying man who could shoot lasers, or Alexandria this world's version of Superman. Teenagers discussing what they'd do with superpowers of their choosing, one talking about how fun it'd be to be a villain and the other as a hero. This planet was so different compared to his, where he had been one of seven individuals to have powers and as of three months ago, been one of two with powers, the others having either died by his hands or by Blackwatch. Even then they had had all the same types of powers, compared to this one where people had so many random powers.

His sister had wanted him to help with the superpowered villains and so after her insistence he did. Sort of. He mainly kept updated on where they were and let the natives handle it, inserting himself every now and then so she wouldn't nag him. And today he was going to update himself on where the villains were, the biomass in his fist being enough to make a sizeable swarm, the mall allowing for an easy central location to start his swarm from.

They filtered out of his body at a steady and non-noticeable rate, to those below, letting him see through their eyes as they left the mall and started to go through the city, more conversations coming into focus. He sent them out to the locations he last knew of, an underground base, a warehouse, another warehouse, one of the local skyscrapers, the rundown docks full of nothing but beggars and mistakes of villains, the basement of someone's house. All locations of the local supervillians, the last of which just being a failure of a pair of villains, all the former having a potential to be dangerous to locals. At the steady stream he was going it would take at most twenty minutes to cover the city.

He noted one person who paid attention to the swarm that was slowly filtering from the top of the rooftop, idly wondering if she was either really perceptive or had powers. The funny thing about it all was the fact he didn't keep track of their secret identities, the only reason he knew was because he accidentally found their bases when they weren't in costume. Their identities weren't much of a concern to him, for all but maybe one person would be unable to kill him. Hurt him yes, but he'd gone through worse before, and he always kept a few bugs near the one person who could seriously hurt him.

The underground base, home to a sizeable amount of mercenaries and a vault that he'd as of yet had gotten into, most likely housing their money and documents, it seeming to have doubled in size since he last scouted. More soldiers around this time, new weaponry too. Otherwise it seemed the same, along with several parahumans staying inside it. Nothing of real note so he moved on from it, having the portion of his swarm that was there leaving and joining the rest that was slowly covering the city.

The next location was one belonging to the Tinker video game enthusiast Leet, his power being able to build anything but only once otherwise it would blow up. He was working on another project, this time's game theme seeming to be related to Mario. Again nothing of note. He let the swarm leave the house and join the main one to help search.

His attention to the majority of the swarm was diverted when a portion of them stopped obeying him, he was still able to see and feel through them, but he couldn't move them anymore. Furrowing his brows he focused on them, all of his directions being blatantly ignored, yet nothing seeming off with the signals they were transmitting back to him. Backing up in his view of the swarm he found that the area where they stopped responding was near the downtown high school. Gathering the rest of the swarm he directed it around the said high school to see how large the sphere was that they stopped responding in.

Irregardless of what the reason for his swarm not responding it wasn't comforting, so he broke into a full sprint, directing part of the swarm to congregate together so he could construct a few birds, ravens to be exact, and give himself a bird's eye view. Reaching the edge of the roof he launched clear off of it, an eruption of biomass to help propel himself faster and higher than his already considerable speed and height. Several of the bugs inside the deadzone changed direction and headed towards the center of it, flitting through the hallways and past students, the rest of them going to gather on a tree outside the school. His birds finally formed out of the bugs and he sent them above the school to give himself as much information to work with as possible.

The last time he was unable to control biomass like this had been in New York, when Mother was still alive and infecting millions of people. So it wasn't a comforting thought as to what this development could entail. Landing on another roof, his feet punched into the roof and sent him shooting forward, faster than a speeding car could go. Looking through the affected bugs' eyes he couldn't pinpoint who was responsible for it, but did see several being directed with a human like intelligence, again not being re-assuring. The birds made a lazy circle around the school, while his bugs stayed at ground level around the dead-zone, him finally having figured out that it was more or less three blocks in size.

When he reached about halfway to the school the several bugs that were being directed stopped on the wall outside of the room, only one slipping through the crack in the door. It hovered to the ceiling and stayed there and judging by the location compared to the rest of the unaffected swarm, it was at the epicenter and someone in that room was responsible for hijacking control of his swarm. Yet from where it was located he couldn't make out the individual features of the people, much less tell who it was, with the inferior sense of the bug. THere was a reason he used a swarm of them and not just one after all.

It would be worth it to send in a bird, see if whoever or whatever it is, directs said bird to them and he could ID them. As such one bird dive-bombed into the dead-zone where the swarm had stopped obeying him, he fully expecting it to do the same, in fact he had calculated for that. Except it didn't. It remained a part of him, as directable as one of his fingers, unlike the bugs he had sent in. Slowing in his sprint, now three fourths of the way there, with people screaming and lunging to get out of his way, he experimented with the bird. It landed on the roof of the school and he moved its legs, furling and unfurling its wings, even letting out a caw.

Completely under his control.

So why were the bugs not controllable? Hmmm… take into account the types of powers going around, one of the residential villains having the mentality of a dog and ability to infuse dogs with biomass, a person on the other side of the planet being able to talk to fish… maybe something to do specifically with bugs? Sending down another two birds onto the roof to watch the one already there he split it into two, a smaller bird, one reminiscent of a robin, and a shapeless mass. The three birds watched the mass as he turned it into a bug like creature, not quite exactly, but enough like one that it would convince most people.

And he lost control just like that again. With a thought the three birds ripped into the insect to recover its biomass and add it to their own, confirming his thought of somebody in that room having powers relating to bugs. Skidding to a stop in the middle of the road, just a block away from the school he walked into a side-alley, away from the stares of several people on the road, a wave of biomass rolling over him to change his appearance. He was going into that school to see who was able to hijack control of his swarm, so he needed to look the part of a high-school student.

The red tendrils wrapped over his form, removing a whole foot of his height along with the appearance of sixty pounds as he turned into a teenage boy, clothes changed into a buttoned up T-Shirt and ripped jeans. Distasteful but it worked wonderfully for blending in. Stepping out the other end of the alley he hurried forward, directing one of the birds to fly by the window of the room that the Controller was in. It was by the window for only a second, but it was more than enough time to see who was in the room, along with the four at the epicenter. One caucasian girl, brown curly hair, rail-thin with glasses. One dark-skinned, close shaved, heavyset male. Caucasian blonde with braces, a girl with an average build. Then finally a latino with a small beard growing in, making it seem he had been held behind a grade.

One of them was the Controller judging by the sphere's position and the bird's sight. Crossing the street he sent the birds back up into the sky to do a lazy circle around the school once more, sending one across the street to stare into the window from a safe distance, but allowing him to keep watching those four individuals.

He could feel the bell ring through the bugs inside the school and the majority of the class got up, the caucasian girl wearing glasses stopping before going to the door then remaining behind with the teacher. The sphere barely moved even when everyone but her left the classroom, marking her as the Controller. The person he needed to confront.

Shoving the front doors open he made a beeline for the area she was in, watching through the bird's eyes as she and the teacher talked. Then she left the room, the bug on the ceiling and those that had been waiting outside the room moving to gather on her, probably for her to inspect. He waded through the flood of students, shoving some of them out of his way and into the green lockers lining the walls.

The sphere stopped moving and he focused on the bugs once more to see what she was doing. Their eyes picked up a encirclement of girls around the Controller, the look of it being either bullies or friends. Most likely the former than the latter considering the state of the planet he was stuck on, humans were oh so quick to pick on the weak. Through the bug's eyes he could see a window to her left and so he directed a bird over to give him a view of what was happening.

Nine girls in total surrounded her, three in the rear with six in the front. The Controller frowned with a weary look in her eyes as the girls around her started talking, his bugs picking up every word with clarity.. "Nobody likes her. Nobody wants her here." That confirmed they were bullies and he rolled his eyes with a frown, things on the planet would be so much easier if they worked together, it'd be so much more efficient, so stupid things like this just grated on his nerves.

""Such a loser. She didn't even turn in the major project for art, last Friday," Another added, a sadistic smile on her face. Turning another corner he thought that they probably had something to do with said project, judging by her tone and the smile that grew when she said that.

Insults started to appear, many of them contradictory in what they said. One would call her so ugly nobody wanted her, another called her a slut, one called her a retard, another called her an outcast. Each time they was a pause and it seemed like the Controller was going to say something another girl would hammer in with an insult, the general message of nobody liked her easily apparent. Finally turning the corner and into the hall where they were he kept his bee-line going, looking over each of the girls in turn. Analyzing them, taking note of how each held themselves, the way each shifted as another insult was thrown.

A door behind them opened and the teacher that she'd been talking to walked out and he slowed his pace for a moment to see what would happen. They locked eyes for a moment, until the teacher turned away, locked the door and started walking, the Controller's mouth going agape just the slightest bit. She probably had been expecting him to say something, which would be understandable because he was a teacher, a person that was supposed to guide her through life. Ahhh how he had hated school when he was her age.

The teacher gave him a smile as he walked by and he didn't so much as bat an eye, continuing to walk up until the point he was standing behind the circle of girls that had trapped the Controller in a corner. How to get rid of them? He could be blunt and toss them to the side but that'd attract notice not to mention he'd just find it tedious. Use his intimate understanding of people and how they act to undermine the bullies' confidence and have some fun manipulating them? That sounded nowhere near as noticeable and it'd be fun, it had been awhile since he scared or intimidated somebody with nothing but words. "If you girls want to insult yourselves you should go look at the mirrors instead of staring at the windows like idiots." The girls all either turned or half-turned towards him. "I mean you obviously see those are windows not mirrors right?"

The most athletic of them was the first to respond her dark-skinned lips sneering at him. "Who the fuck are you?"

He shrugged with a knowing smirk, digging his hands into his pockets. "The guy pointing out that these are windows and not mirrors for you to degrade yourselfs with." He paused to lift a finger and pointed at the right-most one, who looked more confused than anything. "I'm going to guess she's the one practicing calling herself a slut right?"

She gasped and the closest one to the girl that had been insulted frowned. "Oh what are you her boyfriend? Eugh she's got such horrible taste."

That girl just raised a point that it made it seem he cared about the Controller and as such depending on whether or not she could be used as an asset, it'd be best to separate himself from her too. Make it seem like he just wanted to ruin their fun rather than being a knight in shining armor. "Not as bad a taste as I get when I look at all of you and can feel the bile rising in my throat. Including you too girl," He said to the Controller, craning around the athletic one who was now clenching her fists, to look at her. "I couldn't really care less about who it is you're screwing with." He looked the athletic one in the eyes. "I just find it pathetic when you obviously pick on a weakling to make yourself feel strong."

She growled at him. "You should be careful what you say."

He shrugged with a chuckle. "People with inferiority complexes often pick on others, but I'm sure a bitch like you can find other outlets. Plenty of others have." He patted her on the cheek with a grin knowing what he just did would make her do. She took a step back with a twitch of her eye and brought the clenched fist rocketing into the side of his face. He didn't give an inch and it could be said with accuracy that her bones would snap before he did move.

She screamed out, in more surprise than in pain, "Fuck!" She cradled her fist and took a step back, glaring at him, while her gang all looking scared now.

He just laughed at her. "Wow, you are weaker than I thought. Now how about you scram, little piggie?" He said with a jerk of his thumb, still laughing a little. "Or if you want I can show you why unlike you bitches, I don't have to gang up on somebody like her over there." The athletic one kept glaring at him but did as he suggested, with the other following behind her.

"You're going to fucking regret this." She said as she passed by and he shrugged again.

"Sure I'll watch out for the gaggle of girls that can't handle one nerd trapped in a corner." He said with a laugh at the death glare she was giving him. As they walked by he waved at them, watching through the bird's eyes as the Controller seemed to be even more tense as the girls left, leaving her alone with him. Maybe she knew that it wasn't a coincidence he came here the same day she got control of some new type of bug she'd never seen before. Once the last of them turned the corner he looked back to the Controller with a level face, crossing his arms, eyes briefly flickering to the walls as the number of bugs around them increasing in size. He wouldn't have noticed if he were human but alas, with the ability to see the heat through walls and feel his own bugs joining her swarm around her, he could see the potential she had behind it, as long as she wasn't dumb that was. "So your power has to do with bugs huh?"

She narrowed her eyes and the swarm came closer to them, so much that he could hear the tens of thousands of insects surrounding them. She truly did have potential in her power. "I don't know what you're talking about." She said half-heartedly, to which he cocked a brow.

"Those new bugs you have on you are mine and I'd appreciate if you either handed them over to me or remove them from your sphere of influence." He stated matter-of-factly with an outstretched hand.

She frowned and crossed her own arms, the swarm stopping in its movements. "Why should I? You obviously didn't help me out of the good of your heart and if your power is just bugs then I win." Of course she'd be difficult, since when were people any different? Moving one of his ravens over to the window, where her back was turned, he rolled his eyes at the fact she was assuming his only power would have to do with bugs.

Lifting up a hand he counted off the reasons why she should. "For one I just got punched full force by that girl earlier and I didn't so much as blink. Two I immediately located you in the middle of your school, outside of your costume without any effort. Three, you have no idea what I'm capable of and you're being a dumbass for assuming anything. And four." He made the raven outside the window caw, making jump in surprise and whirl around towards it. "Who said my power is just bugs?" She turned back to him, just the slightest hint of fear on her features. "Before you decide to try and swamp me with poisonous bugs or the like I can tell you right now, that it'll just piss me the fuck off, and perhaps more importantly to you, reveal your identity."

Sighing she nodded and he could feel his bugs leaving her swarm around them, coming out of the cracks of the school to leave the sphere she had around her. He could feel her controlling every individual movement of his bugs, with an inhuman precision and ability to multitask that actually surprised him. She wasn't a hivemind, but yet she was almost like one with how she was operating. Interesting. He was curious as to how it worked, what were the extents, was she limited to just bugs because she was familiar with bugs? "There is that all?"

He shook his head, deciding on what exactly he should give her in terms of bugs. It'd be the best way to keep an eye on somebody who could hijack control of his insectoid creations and let him figure out what her limits could possibly be. The first modification would obviously be to not be infectious, wouldn't do for him to let her walk around with bio-weapons in her pockets. "No, I'm rather curious about the person who managed to hijack control of my bugs. I haven't seen you around as either a hero or a villain so are you a rouge or the like?"

She narrowed her eyes but answered nonetheless. "I haven't made a costume yet."

"Oh so you're one of those that decided to make their own costume huh?" From what he could tell those type of people were either imaginative or worried about the fact someone might recognize them from their costume. She seemed able to control every part and motion of her bugs, including his, what was the limit on that? Could she make his bugs shapeshift if he let her have some? "Decide on a name yet?."

"No." She was so tense, even having bent her knees slightly in case she wanted to start running. Her swarm was buzzing still but they remained where they were.

He could give her some standard bugs, with the ability to shapeshift and see if she could learn to control that, he'd be able to sense whatever she did any moment she used them. He would restrict it to a bug's standard way of eating, letting anything have the ability to consume would be too dangerous in somebody else's hands. "You really don't like me do you?"

"You insulted me, know my power and are threatening me. What do you think?"

He shrugged as he finally decided on what type of bugs he'd give her, having spent the last few seconds wondering what type of species he'd make it resemble, before deciding on Bullet Ants. Dangerous, numerable and working together to overcome much larger animals and people, it seemed appropriate considering what she would have to do with her bugs if she wanted to become a hero or a villain. It would also make for an easy first test if she decided to take the bugs in terms of figuring out how to make them more mobile like the majority of the swarm she had around them. "I threatened you because I'd rather not be covered in annoying bugs."

He finished modifying a few of the bugs that she had just evacuated and moved them onto one of his birds, twenty in total climbing onto the pseudo bird's back. They moved back into the sphere and made a beeline towards them and she turned in that direction, immediately noticing the bugs entering her radius. "Didn't you just ask me to give back all your bugs?"

The bird landed on the windowsill beside the other one and he had the one that was already there start picking them off with its beak and putting them on the sill. "Because if you're going to have any of my creations you aren't going to have those ones. These ones though you can consider yours, I do wonder if you can figure out what they can do."

Again she narrowed her eyes but he could feel her marching his bugs towards her. Maybe she was as curious as to what she could do with his bugs as he was. "Why?"

He shrugged. "I'm curious as to what you can do with my special brand of bugs and it's not like you're going to be a danger to me if I give you them. So I have nothing to lose by seeing what you can do."

She didn't say anything for a moment, lowering herself into a crouch to pick up his ants. "So who are you?"

That marked the end of the discussion. She seemed to accept his gift and he could keep an eye on her through this way, not to mention he needed to resume scouting the city. He turned around and started walking away. "Just call me Alex. Oh and for your cape name, may I suggest Myrmidon? It's the name for Greek soldiers that were made from ants, seems appropriate for you."

She didn't say anything as he walked away, choosing to remain silent the whole time while me made his swarm resume its search through the city, dissolving the birds back into bugs the moment they exited her control radius. The halls were empty of students, apparently having already gone to their classes. After a minute of walking she finally started moving his bugs once more, moving them to her hand and raising the hand up to her face to look at the bugs. "What am I going to do with these?"


	2. The One Named Zeus

He had completed his sweep of the city earlier and had decided to watch the people scurry along their way in their day to day lives from under the overhang of a cafe shop. Leaning against the wall next to the entrance he watched over the various peoples, some of whom had begun to cast worrying glances at him, likely due to the fact he looked shady and had been there for at least ten minutes. The shop owner hadn't even approached him yet despite him scaring some of the customers away.

He really needed to find a better way of passing his time besides watching people run around, Dana, his sister, didn't like it when he creeped people out. A vibration in his side leg let him know that she was calling him, she being the only person with his number. Grabbing it he brought it up to his ear. "Found somebody?"

"Yeah got eyes on Night and Fog by the docks, with Lung gone and the pressure we're putting on they've been more active. Sending you the address now, expect some of the Protectorate to show up, probably Armsmaster again." She said, the sound of keys being hit sounding in the background. "Just don't do anything stupid again alright."

"No promises." He said with a half-smile before ending the call and looked at the address she sent him, leaving the overhang and heading to the nearest alleyway to transform. The moment he was out of sight he let his biomass swarm over him again, red tendrils covering his form entirely as he remade himself. Another foot to make him a towering giant, extra biomass to the chest, shoulders and knees to form the 'armor' that he 'wore', giving him the ability to take a tank shot to the face and a three foot long, thin and sharp mass of bio-material along his back to be his 'sword' for when his strength wasn't enough and he needed an extra something to beat one of the villains. That didn't happen often.

It had been a long time since he had used anything but his fists and his sword, the last time having been getting Dana away from the Simurgh when they had first arrived here. Since then he hadn't seen a reason to use his other abilities such as his hammerfists, claws or whip. Moving the biomass around he made some parts of his armor look more segmented, as if it was a separate thing from his body, but overall kept it organic and fluid. To most people it would look like a medieval villain, like the Black Knight of many a story with sharper points, clawed hands, his helmet ending in the back with a series of spikes jutting outwards and no visible human features for anybody to see. In fact the first time anybody had seen him, they thought he was a villain and had tried to fight him.

That had been how he first met the Protectorate, Brockton Bay's heroes. Since then they hadn't liked him, but he didn't really care all that much. Finishing his transformation he stepped out the other end of the alley and launched down the street, heading down to the docks faster than a speeding car on the highway, vaulting over and dodging cars by mere inches, eliciting honks of protest from the cars. He didn't pay mind to them and instead focused on getting to his destination.

Six minutes later he was in the Docks, a running blur that blended in with the lifeless greys of the rundown warehouses that hadn't been used in dozens of years, a number of his birds flying over the area with him to try and find the two villains that Dana had said were here earlier. Fog and Night were both partners, always working side by side because of how their powers complimented one anothers. Fog could become a mist that blocked ones' view of an area or rip apart a person's lungs when they inhaled him in his mist form, while Night would transform into some monstrous creature whenever she was out of sight. Both members of the E88, aryan supremacists that picked on anybody that wasn't white, mainly bringing them into conflict with the ABB, the asian gang that normally was in charge of the Docks.

However since Armsmaster had brought in Lung a few days ago, it had become more of a warzone with the gangs clashing and him helping to fuel the fire by attacking either gang at any hour of any day. He had already removed Cricket and Viktor of the E88, Trainwreck of the Merchants and a Circus, making him infamous in the eyes of the villains and forcing some of them to either relocate or act further out of sight. The one person who had been able to match him had been Lung, everyone else failing to actually hurt him. It was the opposite problem for him, having to hold back in his strikes least he kill them, even his weaker strikes being enough to put the villains in the hospital.

That had made him infamous with the heroes too, breaking dozens of bones in an average human's body with a single strike and rupturing many a blood vessel or organ if he wanted to be a bit more vicious. Sure they had armor on or had powers to make themselves stronger and more durable, but that didn't help the military or infected back home when they fought him at a month old. Technically less than a month old when he saved the city, but he had the memories of hundreds of lifetimes by then. Regardless that was when he still wasn't sure how to use his abilities to their fullest. For example back then he wouldn't have known how to form seemingly innocent birds out of his biomass and use them as scouts to find the two individuals he wanted, six blocks away from him.

Fog wearing a grey cloak and cowl with no other decorations on it, his partner Night the exact same except black with high heels. Through his bird's eyes he could see the two of them look around for who had seen them, his eyes forcing Night back to her human form, before they ducked into one of the warehouses. Moving the rest of the flock over near the warehouse for a complete view in case they exited out another way he charged towards the building, barreling through old walls on his way, after all nobody cared enough to restore the buildings, so who'd care what he broke on his way?

A solitary door opened on the far end of the warehouse they were in and Night looked out before shutting the door again, most likely having checked to see if anybody was looking. By that time he was only two blocks away, birds having settled on the surrounding buildings or power wires. The door opened up again with a heavy fog leaking out, completely obscuring his view of the door and spreading fast. It stopped at around ten feet in diameter, more than enough for Fog's partner Night to have transformed into her other form again, prepared for a fight. He made one of his birds let out a caw directed at the fog, using echolocation to place where Night exactly was inside the mist, her features and the distance between them making the 'image' blurry and indistinct but telling him where she was..

Finally coming to the warehouse he busted through the back wall, the mist only having moved a few feet before he came through after them a fist raised to punch Night out of the mist, her location already noted, along with how she would whirl around to face him. Like he expected his fist caught her in the right portion of her chest, flinging her out of the mist with a twirl and down the street, his birds giving him a view of when she smashed back into the ground shoulder-first, that sent her legs up into the air. Continuing out after her he grabbed the legs offered up in the air and slammed his foot to force himself into a stop. Part of the road was ruined but nobody really drove around here not to mention the road was built for several trucks to drive side by side for the warehouses.

Holding her up like a prize by one leg he looked towards Fog who was slowly advancing in his mist form, intending to get into his lungs and tear him apart from the inside. "Just give up already Fog." He said, voice going farther than it should've down the street. Fog didn't pay him any mind, nor did Night in his grasp, fumbling for something on her belt. A flashbang, intended to blind him for a moment so she could rip him apart in her other form. He could easily throw it away, it could and would blind him and his birds if he let her use it, no matter how much he evolved his eyes, massive changes in the intensity of light would still affect him for a moment. But he could use it to break their will, just form an eye on his hand where the flashbang couldn't reach it, allowing him to still see Night, prove to them that they couldn't blind him and well… what could they possibly do then?

Forming the required eye on the hand holding her leg he looked towards her as she pulled the pin for the flashbang. "That won't work." She didn't say anything and her mask hid her expression. She had already begun to thrash before the flasbang went off, so as she'd tear free instantly and either run away or beat him. It lit a blinding white in all but one of his eyes, the effect only lasting for a split-second, so much that she was still thrashing as a human in his grasp before finally realizing that she didn't turn. She went limp in his hand when she did realize. "I told you. Now," He looked back at the mist that had stopped in its movement. "I'm not a hero so I'm not going to act like one. Either you can turn back to normal or I'll have to explain why I had to use police brutality on her to detain her."

It took a few moments for Fog to start turning back to normal, but he did while Night hung limp by her leg. When Fog finally returned to normal he dropped Night and laid a foot on her chest, it alone weighing sixty pounds thanks to the biomass, more if he decided to put more effort into it. Motioning Fog over he said, "Now come here before I decide to put my weight on this foot."

Fog stayed for a second, head moving just a fraction as he looked down to Night, shoulders sagging ever so slightly in defeat. He obliged though and walked over, stopping in front of him, a glare evident through the mask. Alex gave a precise rap to his neck and Fog dropped like a doll to the ground beside Night, who he did the same to but with his foot instead, making them both effectively unconscious. Stepping off of Night he lowered himself into a crouch and formed a series of jellyfish like stingers, loaded with some tranquilizers he had created, rubbing it along both of their necks, making sure they didn't wake up for an hour. Grabbing his phone once more he called Dana back.

She picked up on the second ring. "Done already?"

"Night and Fog are both unconscious, just tell the PRT people to follow the man-sized holes in walls." He said, banishing most of the birds around, too many of them to be natural, but keep a few of them to watch over the two villains.

His sister clicked a few keys on her keyboard. "Uh yeah PRT vans are about three minutes out and I don't know if they actually sent any capes this time, cause you normally take care of things." She paused before adding on, "How many walls did you ruin?"

"We have enough money to pay for it."

She sighed. "Alex come on, you can at least try not to break things."

He shrugged before walking down the street, changing back to his normal self, a black hoodie with red celtic angel wings on the back pulled up over his head, grey shirt underneath jeans and black boots. "You find the villains, I beat the villains, wreck some stuff and pay for it afterwards. It's what we do."

He could hear her rolling her eyes through her voice. "Just get out of there before you piss them off like last time? I'm the one who has to talk to them."

"Already on it." He said already a street away from the unconscious villains, his birds watching every minute movement, including the gentle rise and fall of their lungs. "Weren't we running low on something?"

She sighed again. "Green tea, mind picking some up? And kit-kats."

"Sure." He answered before hanging up.


	3. Passing Time

Alex deposited the bag of groceries on the counter, not giving any to Dana because she had left earlier with one of her friends she had made a few months ago. His 'dog' trailing after her from the alleys, one that as far as she knew was just a stray that had taken a liking to her after she fed it one time, really being another construct of his biomass. He half-smiled as he watched her laugh at a joke Sarah had made, the two of them currently walking the boardwalk.

He quickly sorted through the things Dana had asked for and started putting them away, the few cabinets they had in their apartment mostly being filled with things she could throw in a microwave, a trait she had seemed to keep from college. Throwing the bag into the trash he left the kitchen and stepped out into the living room, or as Dana referred to it, the nerve center. What had once been a room that housed a couch, TV and a few plants now had an amalgamation of over a dozen hard drives and six monitors, each monitor split up into multiple windows detailing patterns, parts of the city, theories with the cursor still blinking. Rolling his eyes he looked at one of them, smiling in amusement as she'd narrowed down the area of where the Undersiders were based at yet again. Albeit she was a bit off in the location exactly but still it was an accomplishment.

Feeling the heat from the computers he decided to turn on the overhead fan and left the apartment building, already feeling the same boredom creep over him. It was nice to keep Dana happy, but the way he was it wouldn't keep him interested, after all what she wanted and liked were pretty simple things to supply her with. The only other thing of interest was the Controller still at her school. She wouldn't be out of school for at least thirty minutes if the schools were like his home, which meant he was stuck with his thoughts and constructs throughout the city yet again.

Leaving the apartment he walked mindlessly down the street, checking over the constructs he had made in his time of living in this city. A multitude of bugs that always stayed near Panacea, the parahuman that could cure any disease or fix any injury with just a touch, meaning as he was a virus she'd be the most dangerous parahuman to him that he'd met thus far.

His 'dog' was watching his sister from a distance, leaving her unaware of being watched. Finally the mountain of biomass he had begun growing outside of the outskirts of the city, underground and out of sight of anybody who might have been going for a hike. He had started it back when they first decided to settle down here, his last-case measure in worry of those who might come after him or his sister, knowing that he wasn't the best at defending her. He could kill most anybody that he wanted, but there were the worrisome groups out there that might have powers or abilities keeping him from affecting them. The Triumvirate, Yangban, Siberian, Scion or the Endbringers being the main ones of note. Thus he noted with satisfaction the biomass had grown another twenty percent since the last time he had checked, that being a week ago.

Walking around the corner he thought over what to occupy himself with, fighting the villains being only a momentary distraction that didn't even fully attract his attention. Lung could have been a great distraction if he wanted to use his full arsenal that is, not to mention Armsmaster had already taken care of him somehow. Maybe a 'friendly' sparring with one of the heroes. Still the same problem with taking care of the villains.

With most of his mind focused on the possibilities of what to occupy himself with he almost missed the familiar pride-filled voice from a street over. He looked up in confusion, not sure he heard right when he heard it again, threateningly demanding somebody else to give them information. Ducking into a side alley he formed a bird and sent it flying to investigate, not wanting to get his hopes up and waste his time going to check personally. In short order the bird flew over to the alley that the voice originated from, easily picking out Shadow Stalker standing over a bloodied thug, who was prone on the ground with her foot on his neck and a gag in his mouth. A heavy black coat obscured her from view in the alley, which would be complemented by her black bodysuit and black metal plates, which would have served her well at night, but not that well right now in the daylight. A single crossbow and quiver hung on her back, her weapon of choice. "I know you're lying to me about not knowing where the rest of your buddies are."

She leaned on the foot holding him down making him groan in pain through the gag, but his eyes held a defiant gleam in them. Alex laughed from his alley two streets down at the fact that Shadow Stalker one of the so-called heroic Wards, was the same girl that had been bullying the Controller to try and make herself feel important! That was just too perfect one of the most powerful individuals of the city had to make herself feel tough by picking on somebody as spineless as the Controller seemed to be! A roll of biomass turned him into the same teenage form he had adopted to approach them earlier and he headed over with a purpose, the bird flying away from the 'hero' and back to him, being absorbed in short order.

Arriving at the alley he walked in with a stride, hearing Shadow Stalker kick the thug again. One thing he did have to admit was that she was brave to do this while it was still daylight. Or more likely, just an imbecile. Walking down the alley and stopping at an intersection with another he leaned against the wall wondering what would be the best way to screw around with her, give her a taste of her own medicine. He could physically beat her but that'd be no fun at all… well maybe a little but not very. Maybe throw some gravel at her and just not say anything for a while, see how she'd react to that, although he had a pretty good idea as to how she'd react, it was still an idea that brought a smile to his lips. No not now at least, maybe another time.

Make a reference to the school bullying incident and set her off that way? No still the same thing as the above. A recording of her quite brutally interrogating a criminal, against the law, while she was supposed to be a hero was another idea, making him wonder as to how she'd react. Violence probably, but still that one sounded like the most fun so far.

Pulling out his phone he looked through the wall with a quick flash of thermal vision to make sure they hadn't moved, then jumped up to the roof, casually walking over to the edge and flicking through the phone until he had the recording option. Checking to make sure his shadow wasn't obscuring any of the light, or otherwise noticeable in any way he sat on the edge and watched from above as Shadow Stalker kept interrogating the helpless thug. It went on for a good six or seven minutes before she finally let up and turned to walk away, apparently satisfied with the answers she had.

"Thanks for the video, people do love a good bad hero story!" He called out from above, making her jerk her head up in surprise as he waved the phone above his head. She seemed to stare at him for a moment, not quite sure he was there, then her hands flew to the crossbow strapped to her back and leveled it at him, crossbow already loaded in it. Amused he leaned out of the way as she pulled the trigger, it breezing past him. "Oh my, that was quite close."

That seemed to infuriate her because she activated her power, which turned her intangible but instead of like a ghost she was a shadow of her regular self, which complimented her crossbow to let it go through many a object. It also let her defy gravity he noted as she leapt up at him, he rolling back out of the way right before she could 'touch' him. "Aren't hero's supposed to be fast or something?"

Landing on the roof she turned back to normal, hands tightened into fists. He grinned at the mask she wore, that being of a stern woman's face frozen. "Give me the fucking phone."

Taking a moment to think about what'd be the most infuriating thing to say he settled on something. "Hmmm." He began with a thoughtful expression, before continuing, "Naaa. Gotta earn it." He could hear her snarl from behind her mask, sprinting at him and turning into her shadow state in an effort to grab the phone out of his hands. As soon as she came near he started moving, easily stepping out of the way as she turned back to normal, letting the phone come just within reach of her grasp. He hopped back and started spinning the phone on his index finger. "So are you going to try and grab it?"

This time she remained silent, again lunging forward at him again. He twirled out of the way when she swiped from the right, tossed the phone to the other hand when she was trying to yank it out of his hands, it breezing past her face tauntingly. He smiled at her, knowing she was baring her teeth under that mask of hers. He eventually turned it into a half-dance, always keeping her in arms reach even when she overshot a grab and almost stumbled away he followed her. Always with a smile and the phone just in her reach, he tutted with a wag of his finger. "Tsk tsk."

She growled like a dog and turned back into a shadow, jumping up and away, grabbing her crossbow from behind her back and leveling it at him once more. He raised a brow and stood stock still. She loosed the bolt and it flew at him in its shadow state, making him wonder if it might go through him, but it answered him by turning back to normal just a moment before it hit him and thus he grabbed it. He inspected it as she floated back down to the ground. "A gift? For me? How kind. Still not getting the phone though..."

Landing on the ground she dropped the crossbow and tore two bolts out of her quiver, intending to either pin him to the ground, pierce him or give her just that little bit of reach she needed to finally grab the phone. Once more she leaped at him, using her bolts to swipe and slash at him, he in turn doing the same as before, just barely escaping her movements grinning all the while. He couldn't see her face but he could hear her huffing and puffing from anger and exertion, footing getting just the slightest bit sloppier with every movement, obviously giving it her all.

Being a blur in his own right he decided to up the ante, gently patting her cheek or tousling her hair when she swiped at him. Offering words of encouragement every time she missed, only serving to further her rage, sending her even faster meaning he'd just do it more and more making it a neverending loop. After a full two minutes of that he decided enough was enough and hit her chest with his palm, sending her bouncing back across the rooftop. To her credit she did manage to roll upright into a crouch but was wheezing from the force of his palm, glaring at him from behind her mask.

Twirling the phone on his knuckle he held it out to the side. "Come now, a big, tough hero like you can handle somebody like me." He said sarcastically, tossing the phone up into the air and catching it. Hands crossed in front of him he watched her as she stood back up, twirling her bolts in her hands, seeming as if she wanted to try and go another round.

He was legitimately surprised when she didn't launch herself at him again, instead wheezing out, "Why?"

Sinking down to the ground and sitting with one knee against the ground and the other propping his arm up, which in turn rested under his chin he smiled at her. "Like I said earlier, I just find it pathetic when you obviously pick on a weakling to make yourself feel strong." He paused and thought about his current situation before adding on, "Though I guess I'm being a tad hypocritical, I'm messing with you after all."

She let her bolts drop until she was grasping the very ends of them in her hands, taking a moment to catch her breath before responding, every few words punctuated with a wheeze, "It's the point... of the strong to stand on... top of the weak," He raised a brow at that, wondering what she was thinking of the current situation. "So what if I screw with that spineless nerd at school... beat a few thugs…. I earned my place. They're all worthless anyways… if you don't stand up for yourself… then you deserve what you get." She finished with an arm thrown to the side, a declaration of her philosophy.

If that's how she thinks the world works, might as well use her own words against her. That almost always infuriates people. "Ah, so it's perfectly fine for me to mess with you like this." He said, with a tone of realization. " After all, I'm strong, and you are quite clearly not."

He could hear the sneer in her voice, somehow standing even more upright than she had been. "I'm not weak you fucker…" Her defiant tone was ruined by another wheeze. "You just have some Mover power… I could beat you into the ground… if it weren't for that." She brought the bolts back up into her hands and twirled them in what must be her version of anger. "Just taking a little longer."

"If that's what you truly think, I will give you a free shot." He leaned forward, arms spread wide. "Feel free, hit me as hard as you can. Use your crossbow if you feel you must. I will show you how weak you are."

She took him up on that offer by returning to her crossbow that she had discarded earlier and slipped one of the bolts into it, the other going back into her quiver. Striding forward she lifted it up and shifted back into her shadow form just long enough for her to shoot the arrow, it gliding through the air and a quarter through his head, it being immaterial the only reason it went so far, before snapping back to normal, leaving a bolt sticking out of the front of his head like a unicorn's horn.

"That it?" He asked, not even paying the bolt any attention.

Her crossbow wavered for a second but she remained silent for longer. Then she finally said, "Fuck you." She glanced over to the side of the roof, almost as if she was looking for an escape.

Alex reached up and pulled out the bolt, and held it out to her. "So, I think I have proven that I'm stronger than you. You couldn't touch me in our little dance earlier, and when I let you hit me with your best shot it did nothing."

Fingers dancing across her crossbow she shook her head vehemently. "No fuck that, you knew who I was already, you've probably been spying on me. You just prepared yourself to beat me, that's not you being stronger than me!"

Alex shook his head at her foolishness. "Please, I have been fighting people tougher than you since I was born. Feel free to do whatever you want, you won't be able to hurt me, let alone beat me."

She didn't say anything, instead sliding the crossbow back into position on her back. Looking him in the eye from behind her mask she turned back into a shadow and leapt back and away from him, obviously giving up for now. Or maybe to try something else later with one of the Wards and call him a villain. It didn't really matter because that was entertaining for a little bit… holding up the arrow that she hadn't taken back he wondered as to how long it'd been since he'd had fun like that. It would be a good idea to keep an eye on her to keep him from getting too bored wouldn't it?

Checking to make sure she couldn't see, she being too busy trying to run as fast as she could, he formed another bird from his palm and sent it after her, finally standing back up and throwing the arrow to the side. With a smile he looked at the sun still so high in the sky, wondering what else might happen this week. A snot nosed brat that thought she was above everything he could mess with, the Controller able to hijack his bugs, only a few nights ago Lung being thrown in jail by Armsmaster.

For once in the longest time he actually had something to look forward to.

AN: Sorry boys and girls for the fic starting off so slow, but I can promise you it will eventually ramp up as time goes on, s'just if you actually have people like Alex try hard right off the bat, well that's no fun.


	4. Short Interlude : Coil

Zeus. Alex Mercer, brother of Dana Mercer. A dangerous individual to all of his plans, nothing as of yet seeming to slow him down. A fight with Lung left Zeus without an arm and dozens of deep gouges in his body, no signs of regeneration from him, yet the next day he showed up again no worse for wear. He knew exactly how to fight many of the villains in his city, taking down those he came across with ease. Night and Fog yesterday, Circus two weeks ago and finally Viktor and Cricket a month ago. Only one of them worked for him but still, it was going against his plans. Lisa, or rather Tattletale as her cape name, had told him about how Zeus was holding back, in other timelines even when he had done his best to piss off Zeus, he'd still be holding back.

So today yet again, he'd be trying to piss off Zeus by going after his sister, ready to collapse the timeline at any moment should Zeus 'consume' his men again and come after him. Coil huffed through his nose as he watched the camera feeds of his soldiers' helmets on the screens in front of him, the soldiers approaching the apartment that Zeus lived in. Outfitted with the best weaponry money could afford they would be capable of taking on several parahumans at once. Some held grenade launchers, others assault rifles with laser attachments, all clad in durawear style clothing and military grade armor.

On the screens to his left were the Travellers, parahumans that worked for him in exchange for him 'trying' to help their friend. Trickster, able to switch two objects with the same mass between positions, Sundancer, who could create a small sun with no known limits on how hot or large she could make it. Ballistic, his power being able to send nearly any object at bullet speed in whatever direction he wanted, Genesis' construct of today a brutish three legged freak with blades for arms, massive underbite and one eye in the middle of 'her' head. Her real body was still in his base within a minute's walking distance.

All at once the twenty soldiers and four Travellers exited their vans and walked onto the street in broad daylight, scaring away the few civilians that were there. Several of his men immediately leveled their weapons at the dog that had stood up and been growing in size, red and black 'flesh' swarming over it. Coil had learned from the other timelines that the dog was one of Zeus's traps, made for anyone who came after his sister, more than capable of killing all of his men if they weren't prepared.

But as they opened fire on the dog before it could leap into the air at them he smiled, that little nasty piece of business done, with no casualties for one timeline. Sundancer as told beforehand conjured her sun, it being no bigger than a baseball this time, and erased the remains of the dog. All in all it took ten seconds for that, leaving around a minute before Zeus arrived. No matter where he'd been in any other timeline, it never took more than a minute for him to arrive. The soldiers rushed in while the Travellers got into position, not knowing what his men were doing. Genesis started her climb up onto one of the buildings, Trickster using his power to swap out the rest of his team for miscellaneous items on top of the roof.

Twentyfour seconds for his soldiers to bust into the apartment where Dana was, immediately gunning her down the moment they saw her, blood splattering all over the nerve center she had made in their living room. Six seconds for one of them to pin her body against the window, with a knife stabbed through her arm and into the wall beside it, where Zeus could see but the Travellers wouldn't be able to since they were on the roof above his men. The Travellers were never ones for killing and if they knew what happened below would try to leave or fight his men, something he didn't want at this juncture. Eleven seconds and Zeus arrived, his men still rushing down the stairs to get back outside where they had more of a chance, or rather, they would last longer.

This time Zeus had arrived as his 'natural' looking self, Tattletale never able to truly tell if that was how he looked. Pale with a grey hoodie under a leather jacket he stood in the middle of the street looking up into his apartment, Travellers presuming that he was staring at them. Even from behind the computer screens Coil could see the hate in his eyes, fists clenching as Zeus looked over those assembled on the roof. Ten seconds as the rest of his men rushed down the stairs and reached the main lobby. Zeus lowered his gaze to his men in the lobby, a rush of flesh and red swarming over his arms.

Tendrils lashed out of his arms, changing their shape and elongating the fingers, color changing into silver while the arms grew in size and turned black as night, red veins pulsating inside of it. When the transformation was done a very familiar set of claws hung from the ends of his hands, each over a foot long, easily capable of ripping through people and armor with ease. A very animalistic way for Zeus to butcher everyone. When his soldiers reached the front doors Zeus leaped into action, roaring in a sound that a human would be incapable of doing.

Three men dead before the first could pull the trigger, giblets of professionally trained mercenaries and soldiers flying everywhere, gun immediately batted away and breaking the wrists of the man who was holding it, that being the least of his worries before he too was ripped apart into pieces. The coms turned to screams in moments, not used to seeing their squadmates being ripped apart by hand and bullets passing through their adversary with no ill effects. The Travellers themselves had no idea what was going on, Genisis' body hopped off the top of the roof to see what was going on, landing outside the front door just in time for half a face to splat against her chest.

Zeus whipped his head towards Genisis' body and crushed the man he held by the arm, severing it in three different places and rushing at her. She made an effort to smack him away, her own claws passing through as he let her tear through him, his own claws piercing straight through her chest above and below each other and pushing in opposite directions, ripping her body completely apart and removing her from the fight. She'd just wake up back in base unlike everyone else. The rest of the Travellers moved down to the street via Trickster's power of switching with the roof clutter.

By that time all of his men were dead, close quarters with Zeus never having been a good thing in any other timelines, the pattern following through with this timeline too. Leaving the Travellers sans Genesis, to fight Zeus all by their lonesome while he was pissed. Ballistic reached over for one of the cars beside him, Zeus immediately leaping at him first, Trickster trying to switch out Zeus for something else. But yet thanks to Zeus' density he was unable to find an object that would match his density or size or shape and Ballistic was shortly jabbed through, claw erupting through the other side of his body. Sundancer screamed and brought up her hands, intent on summoning her sun to incinerate him.

Zeus peeled his arm out of Ballistics chest and grabbed him by an arm, throwing him full-force at Sundancer, which was shortly switched by one of the more intact bodies inside the apartments' lobby. It translated into an explosion of giblets, Sundancer's summoning interrupted by the jarring transition. Zeus leveled an arm towards Trickster, his claws suddenly gone and Trickster's camera jumping up towards the sky thanks to the claws that were impaled into his chest. Leaving the final member, Sundancer with Zeus already running full-tilt at, the sun no bigger than a baseball in front of her.

Needless to say she died in just as gruesome of a way as the others. Zeus stood over the lobby full of corpses with a snarl, tendrils snaking out of his back to swarm over all the bodies in a 'consume' maneuver of Zeus' where he could absorb the memories of whoever he 'ate'. This would mark the spot where Zeus would come after him, taking no more than thirty minutes to arrive and kill most of the men left in the base. But he wouldn't learn anything new this timeline as shown by what Zeus had done so far.

Sighing he collapsed that timeline and resumed the one where he had been eating lunch. There were so many ways Zeus was getting in the way of his plans, not the least of which was him having to be more careful because of Zeus going after any of his recruits. Not a single person he had thought of so far could truly kill him. So as with every plan thus far, with no more info on how to remove Zeus, he'd need to account for Zeus coming to get in the way of any and every plan he made.


	5. Testing Bugs

Alex waited patiently as the Controller finally got to her home, his bugs feeling every bounce as she ran up her stairs, reason being for him knowing they were stairs was because of the creaking sounds since he couldn't see with them in her pocket. A full day of school for somebody with superpowers. It was kind of funny until one remembered that they believed in the idea of secret identities, never really unmasking villains even when they had ample reason to. But back to the point, he'd finally have a chance to see how competent she was and whether it was a good idea to keep with this endeavour. Twelve ants with the power to do anything he could save for infect or consume, so much power at her fingertips and it was up to her whether or not she was competent enough to use it.

So it was up to her to prove to him she was worth his time now with whatever she had in mind with the new bugs she'd been given, as she finished bounding up a set of stairs. She eventually stopped moving and grabbed the bugs out of her pocket, depositing them on some wooden surface. She brought her hand up and deposited them on a desk, craning over them with a frown and brows creased in thought. Her room wasn't much to look at, the parts he could make out anyways while she was in control of the bugs. Twin-sized bed, what looked like grey walls, a desk quiet with the hum of a computer.

"Alex…" She sighed. "I've never even heard of anybody with that name running around." One bug marched up to her finger and she lifted it to her face. Unintentionally giving him an up-close view of her frowning and brows furrowed in concentration. It hung on her finger, matching the size of the tip of her pointer finger. "Doesn't help you little things feel so weird."

She frowned again before standing up and leaving the room, bugs staying where they were. A minute later she appeared back in the doorway with an assortment of items in her hands. She put them on the desk beside the bugs, showcasing some items she thought would be good for testing. In her mind anyways. An unopened soda can, ruler, what looked like scales for weighing and several more insects, six ants, one black widow, a butterfly and a praying mantis. What did she have in mind to test his bugs with those items?

Controller didn't do anything for a few moments taking the opportunity to think, before bringing one of the other ants over to one of his, the two meeting face to face. "Okay let's see if you're really ants." She muttered to herself, having his ant bite into a normal one, maybe wanting to check to see if his ants had venom.

Instead his ant bit right through the other, shearing through it like a knife through hot butter. "What?" She asked in surprise, not aware of the fact he could cut through steel just as easily. A thoughtful hum before the ant marched up to the black widow, tearing through it just as easily too. Then the butterfly, then another ant of another species, another spider and as a final test the praying mantis. All sheared into pieces as his ant cut through it with ease. "What the heck are these things?" She asked herself.

Her fingers started drumming the table and his ants were forced to look down at the desk, starting to burrow into it, she having obviously gotten an idea from how it tore through the bugs. It didn't take long before it started making some progress and she had it stop before it ruined her desk. She picked up the ants and held them in one hand, heading somewhere in her house and back down some stairs. They stopped and he could hear some metal being shuffled around, lightweight and thin metal at that. When she lowered the ants to the counter and brought the object next to them he could see what it was.

A metal spoon. One ant went forward to bite at it, taking only two bites, easily and effortlessly, to cut through the metal. Up until the point it finally bit through to the other side of the spoon, it having taken that long only because of the ant's small bite size. "They bite through metal… what is he, a biotinker?" In some ways he was. "Okay they have sharp mandibles with a strong bite…" She trailed off, some idea coming to form in her mind and she picked the ants back up, to take into her room.

A short time of waiting for Controller to get back to her room and she put them back on her desk. She picked up the soda can and lowered it onto one ant to see whether or not it could support the weight. It strained to pick up the can of soda but was unable to. Then she added another ant to help it lift up the can and as a pair, the two ants lifted it up above their little heads. "They're strong." She muttered. "So are they durable?"

A moment passed as she summoned another insect to her side, this one being a wasp carrying another ant. The ant landed on the desk and marched forward to bite his ant, completely failing in that act. The wasp was next to try with its stinger. Still failing of course. She gave up with the insects and decided to try and use her thumb to crush it, followed by her using her nails like it was a tick. Both another failure. She stood up and walked back out of the room again, maybe going for a mallet? He wasn't quite sure but she was focused on killing his bug.

His question was answered shortly when she appeared back in the doorway with a butcher's knife, intending to slice it in two if possible. Sitting back at the desk she begun with the same ant, gently adding more pressure to it until she was pushing down on it as hard as she could, ant not budging. She gave up on that and raised the knife above her head in another effort to cut the ant in half, instead meeting a wall when the knife struck the ant and sending her fist into the table. A yelp of pain and surprise came from her as she rubbed the struck part. "Durable too. Really starting to think he's a biotinker."

She sighed and leaned on the desk looking over his ants. Was that all the tests she had in mind, really? "Wonder what you guys eat." She sent all of his ants this time to devour the remnants of the bugs that were chopped in half, as her form of a cleanup. So his ants slowly added the biomass of those insects to their own, moving slowly and not finishing their 'meal' since they had to digest food instead of consume. Interestingly enough they didn't chew the stingers, venom or poison glands of those that had them, instead swallowing those ones whole. Except they didn't digest the parts, instead inside their body they separated the stingers and poison glands and moved them down their body, before slotting them in the appropriate spots.

They shapeshifted under her control. He raised a brow in surprise at how quickly she seemed to get a hold of that. She leaned back in her seat with a quiet, "What the fuck?" Or didn't?

Judging by her reaction she hadn't been expecting it, the wide eyes, agape mouth and overall dumb look helping to further help the idea, that she hadn't meant to do that. Maybe her power wasn't as direct as controlling them and rather major influence then because his ants would absorb other parts like that if left on their own. So that left her with a dozen super ants, several of which now had venom or poison, where applicable, to back up their already deadly strength.

She stared at them incredulously, picking one up to inspect it. "Okay a really advanced bio-tinker or some type of Master… can I do this with all bug parts?" She asked herself, evidently catching onto their abilities. Bringing more insects from outside she started experimenting, the ants constantly shapeshifting under her nose, quite literally, without her noticing but upgrading their features. Before she could get to far into it a voice yelled from downstairs.

"Kiddo, I'm home!" Probably her father.

She looked up at the door then back down at the bugs with a quirked lip. "I'll finish with you things later." She stood back up in a rush and went back out the door to greet her father while the ants were sent crawling into crevices to hide themselves from sight.

She definitely did seem competent in some respects, albeit that stroke of luck she had regarding her power sped things along faster than it otherwise would have gone. If she was as competent on the battlefield then she'd be a bit of a nightmare for her opponents, sans a few of them, and with his addition to that. Quite a little nightmare she'd be. Still though he shouldn't get too far ahead of himself with his thinking, he was relying on someone else after all. A human at that, whom didn't have that great of a track record. Only two humans came to mind that were good, competent and capable. His sister of course. And Robert Cross… now he was getting all sentimental again.

He stood up on his roof and looked around, focusing back on himself. He needed something to pass the time and Controller seemed to be busy…. so that left Shadow Stalker to play with. Except he had already bugged her, so doing it again would be too soon. Maybe a movie with Dana? Yeah that'd work.


	6. Alex Annoying

A silent and peaceful day had passed in Brockton Bay, Dana not having alerted him to anything happening in the city. Sure there were the usual unpowered shenanigans with stolen purses, some turf war over Lung's territory but that was small-time stuff that was better left to the PRT since he didn't care much. A boring day had passed. Except he had something to look forward to, Shadow Stalker to be exact.

It had been fun to mess with her the other day, and today would be no different, he thought to himself while he sat on the edge of a roof across from the PRT building. According to the bug he had put on her, she was supposed to start a patrol, a lawful one where she wasn't supposed to beat people. A perfect opportunity to have some fun times toying with her and her mindset of the strongest being in charge. He was curious how she developed that idea considering her power was far from strong or even did anything along those lines. Along with the fact she served under regular humans.

Keeping an eye out for her a few minutes passed before a familiar shadow jumped out of the building and half-glided down the street. Standing up he leaped after her, quickly gaining on her, especially when she stopped, having noticed him coming after her. She waited with crossed arms on the top of her roof and as he landed on the roof she hissed, "What do you want?" She obviously remembered this form from yesterday.

He shrugged as an answer. "I just wanted to see how my favorite hero is doing. Nothing wrong with that right?" He swore he could hear her scowl from behind that mask before she turned on her heel and turned shadow, leaping on towards the next building. He followed after her, hands in his faux pockets, landing first thanks to her slower descent from the property of her shadow-form. "So anybody in mind to beat up for your small ego?"

She didn't respond except for speeding up.

"Come on now it's a simple question, surely you understand the english language?" He asked, leaping backwards after her so he could watch her.

"Screw off." She said, changing direction of her leaps in an attempt to elude him. He merely copied her footsteps, knowing she could have tried harder. Maybe she accepted the fact that she wouldn't be able to lose him. Or her frustration kept her from actually thinking of maybe going through a building or two, that would have made him actually put some effort in tracking her down. Huh… this direction was leading towards the Controller in the Docks area. Oh that'd be fun to watch, this girl seemed to be unaware of her schoolmate's powers and yet relentlessly picked on the Controller. It would be something to watch them fight one another, unaware of who the other was.

"Oh bravo, two words." He said with a chuckle and golf clap. "But really what is it you plan on doing, we both know you aren't quite like your colleagues." He commented as they leaped across another rooftop. "They're the heroes that do only good and arrest the villains. You're the one who likes to teach others a lesson."

She paused and leaped across the street, moving close to the Controller again, following closely he could hear her say, "I'll do what I need to do."

"Oh how mysterious." He said with a roll of his eyes. It was understable to be vague about various things, his current form being a prime example, but considering she knew he was going to find out what was going on why waste time lying? Probably to try and do her best to annoy him. Something she would pale in comparison to him with, just like everything else. "So how is school? Hope you do your homework and aren't too focused on beating people up, would affect your grades you know."

She halted once more on the roof top, reverting back to human and turned to him, with barely contained hostility. "Why are you asking?"

"Small-talk." He shrugged again, walking past her and to the edge of the roof to glance down. "It really gets boring where I live, not often I find someone who can hold my attention." He heard her take a step away and turned around in time to see her leaping away once more and followed suit.

"Go entertain yourself with somebody like Lung. Hopefully you'll get yourself killed." She said with a small hint of a smirk in her voice. Too bad Lung was a momentary distraction at the time, otherwise she'd have a point of messing with him. Brutes are only so entertaining in the way that Lung was a brute.

"I've had my fair share of wars and I've grown bored of them. People on the other hand are always unique experiences to mess with." It was true, he remembered fighting through wars with hundreds of different viewpoints. Then there was the New York Infection a war in its own right, all alike in a few ways. But ultimately boring.

She scoffed as she landed atop another roof and headed across another street, now definitely heading towards the Docks and where the Controller was. Well where the Controller was heading anyways, for she was still moving. "You haven't been in a war brat."

Oh how sure of herself she was in that statement. "Now now, do I..." He waited until she landed and leapt up into the air again, her shadow form making it so she fell slower than gravity should. Then when she leapt up, he leaped through her form, facing her as he went through. "Look like I'm lying?" He asked in the air with a grin before landing once more. "After all this world is in such a shitty state with child-soldiers being far from rare in many countries. Is it so hard to believe that I've been in a war before?" He finished with a gesture to himself as she slowed once more to look him over.

Her mask went up and down as she did. "Well… I still doubt you've been in an actual war but I could see you being in a lot of fights." Then up and away she went again, obviously not wanting to think about him being an actual teenage soldier. Maybe because she couldn't accept the idea that he proved himself her better yet again or maybe because she might have felt sorry for him. He was betting the former though.

"So anyways no, you're just an interesting person. If I wanted a fight I can assure you, other than a normal human, you'd be the furthest down on the list." He added on, deciding that her reactions were a slight bit funny. She turned her head once more to glare at him but didn't say anything. Another block cleared and they were firmly inside the area of the Docks. Current rate would put them near Controller in about a minute if heading directly there, but at the zigzag route they were taking, it'd be maybe four minutes if at all they'd see the Controller. "So how is the Wards? I once looked into joining to alleviate my boredom, but I figured that it was far too many rules for me."

"Exactly what you just said. Too many rules." She growled. "They want to play nice and give these scum an easy pass when it'd just be better to beat a lesson into them."

"Aren't most of these scum because they beat people, just like you do?" He asked with a smirk. Still heading towards Controller's location, who was currently talking to somebody. No visual from what he guessed was her pocket, via his bugs. Sounded like greetings to one another.

"I'm giving them a taste of their own medicine is what I'm doing. There's a difference between me and them."

"Not if you enjoy beating them senseless as much as you do. One thing to get them to stop, another for your level of… enthusiasm." If one was to enjoy hurting others they should at least admit to it, not just make some half-ass excuse.

A huff from her as they moved streets once more. "It's their fault for being weak, if you're going to act like you're better you need the strength to back it up." Small point on her part but it was gone considering how weak she was and how 'strong' she thought she was.

"So I should go ahead and beat you up then?" He jokingly asked, still leaping backwards after her with hands tucked away.

"Fuck off." An expected answer. She went quiet after a few moments, obviously not wanting to say anything else. Hmm… Controller was on a roof. Maybe she was finally using her powers in public. Oh that would be so much better than just having to watch her as she did idle tests on the bugs in the safety of her room. There was little he hadn't tried with them before so if Controller was going to be of any use, it'd be in a fight.

So he remained silent for a minute for her to keep moving, getting closer to the Controller. As the Controller expressed surprise at the amount of money that was apparently in front of her. Judging by the way they were talking it seemed she was joining a gang, whilst talking it over with what seemed to be three distinctive voices. Two male, one female.

Turning forward he kept his eyes peeled for them, before finally seeing a quad of figures ahead. Stalker slowed in her leaping to land atop the edge of one of the roofs. Five roofs behind their backs she crouched down and watched quietly. When he didn't follow suit she glared at him from behind that mask of hers. "Get down you fucking idiot."

"Why?" It'd be more fun to have them run into each other. "I know one of them… in fact I should go say hi." He said as a matter of fact, launching off the edge of the roof and peppering her with fragments from the small explosion of the roof top. Sailing over the warehouse in front of him he landed on the second, quite easily grabbing the attention of the Controller and company up ahead, before he launched again, towards their roof.

A moment before he landed and he took them all in below. Girl, dirty-blonde hair with freckles, civilian outfit with black tshirt and denim skirt. Face currently scrunched up in confusion or concentration. Large african male, taller than Controller by at least a foot, shoulder-length cornrows and lantern like jaw, currently in civilian guise too with jeans and green shirt. Decent amount of muscle that was tensed up as he looked up at Alex. Thin and small male, pretty like face with a mess of black curls for hair. Physically weak but nonetheless half-mirrored the african male with a tenseness in muscles. Finally the Controller in a outfit, looked like a villain's. Black and grey with armor panels placed strategically across the body, a mask mimicking that of mandibles and yellow lenses to look like a bug's eyes. Good thing she was joining a gang, she couldn't pull off being a hero looking like that.

Alex rolled as he landed, quickly slamming a foot into the roof to arrest his movements as all four of them backed away, the thin male looking confused with a hand half-pointed at him. Civilian girl still had her face scrunched up in concentration before relaxing with another step back and the african male tightened his fists. Controller shook her head, bugs buzzing somewhere close by. Inside the warehouse they were standing on maybe? "You."

"Me." He answered standing up and taking a sniff of the air around him. If these three teenagers were gang members then he would have had their smell imprinted, considering he just did another city sweep not even a few days ago. As he placed their distinctive humanly odors to the active players in the city he grinned at the new development The Undersiders. Regent, body control, explaining his confusion with the hand pointed at him, it wasn't working on him. Tattletale, the smart one of the group according to the sparse information he had acquired of her, explaining the concentration on her face when he came flying in. Grue, the leader as far as anyone could tell, power being darkness generation, his tenseness explained by the unknown player flying in. Alex let his eyes roam over the trio, ignoring the Controller for a moment. "Quite the interesting group you've found Controller."

Grue looked towards the Controller questioningly, who shook her head sadly. "His name's Alex, some cape that decided I was interesting and decided to threaten me in school."

"Only because I do so tire of those who don't know their place." He said with a bemused grin, looking over Tattletale. She was doing the same to him, her power obviously doing something for her. What could it be with a name like Tattletale? Obviously something about information that much was a given. "So you're the supposed enigma of the Docks." He chuckled leaning closer to her. "Don't look like much to me. But appearances are deceiving are they not?"

Tattletale nodded, gesturing for the other two to relax. They only did slightly, Grue crossing his arms and Regent frowning. "We can agree on that… so what is it you want? Something tells me if you wanted us dead you would have killed us already."

Smiling at her he crossed his arms behind his back. "I'm looking for something to pass the time and people are just about the last mystery on this planet. So if I see an experiment of mine meeting with the Undersiders," The two males tensed up again whilst she did not. Almost as if she expected it. Interesting. "I do consider it my responsibility to investigate what's going on."

"So she's your experiment then?" Tattletale asked with a nod to the Controller.

He shrugged and shook his head with a smile. "Oh come now if I told you, it'd just ruin the fun." Turning to look at her he noticed the small lunchbox in her hand. Must be what the money was in. "If I was hearing right you were about to join them? Didn't peg you as a villain."

Controller crossed her arms, bugs coming to a crescendo now beneath them. "Why don't you leave me the fuck alone? I don't need some creep spying on me all the time." He shrugged with a smug grin which just seemed to piss her off as she jabbed a finger at him. "You showed up at my school and threatened me there, you showed up here and just admitted to watching me, not even mentioning you had to have tailed me to find me. Leave. Me. Alone." Something set her off and it wasn't the fact he was watching her. She had known back at the school he found her interesting so him watching her wouldn't be too far of a leap.

What else did he say to her? Well he did call her a villain and teenagers were so self-conscious about their own image. "Oh do tell me what do you plan on doing, little one? Swarming me?" He mocked, to which her fingers digged into her costume. The Undersiders started to back up on account of a gesture from Tattletale, opting to ditch their new recruit.

"Don't tempt me." Controller growled, making him laugh at her, Grue already spreading darkness to cover their escape.

He leaned forward. "Try me girl." And she did. A swarm that had been incessantly buzzing in his ears suddenly appeared, pouring forth by the tens of thousands from underneath the building they were standing on. Even his own bugs flowed forth to cover him and try to hurt him. Or kill him. A slight change to his skin made it harder than any of the bugs could go, even his own, making it so that all the bugs did nothing. They merely covered him, crawling all over him and everywhere. Biting at him so hard, trying to stab him full of poison, do anything to hurt him. All of it failing so hard. It made him laugh. When the bugs tried to swamp his 'lungs' it made him laugh even more, all of her efforts doing nothing to him despite how hard she was trying. Striding forward through the swarm, it flowing off of him like water even as the bugs tried their hardest to find a way to hurt him, he grabbed the Controller's arm and wrenched it up. Speaking over the incessant buzzing he said, "I'm out of your league girl. Now stop before I tire of you."

Slowly the swarm left him, uncovering him inch by inch, his bugs returning to her pocket. A slightly weird sensation of the bugs leaving his 'throat' as she tried to back up, despite the fact he was still gripping her arm. "Let go of me." She managed to half-growl the other half being a whine. Whine likely stemming from the fact she didn't faze him in the least with her bugs.

"Just keep in mind, next time you try that do have some sort of a plan." He said, squeezing her arm even tighter and making her knees wobble slightly. Then he let go and she stumbled back. "Some powers are incapable of doing anything to others Controller. So show me you can work around that next time you try to hurt me." With that he turned and waved a goodbye. "Keep up the good work." Then he launched off, eyeing Shadow Stalker trying to follow the shade that was spreading outwards and blanketing several streets below.

The Undersiders would be a score for her if she could keep track of them. And more heroes were probably coming to back them up. Could be interesting to watch, he thought landing on another rooftop. Looking back to the Controller he could see her rapidly moving to leave as well, pausing as she noticed the cloaked streets. Two of his favourite distractions in the same area with heroes on the way and Undersiders on the run. This could be very fun.


End file.
